Friendship, success, family, purpose and love. (Oh yeah, and a sexy body.) Everybody wants some of that, right? This blog is about one woman's endeavor to find, and deal with, all of those things — and the never-ending struggle to keep her apartment clean.

I knew I should have bought a grey purse

Apparently, it is also the season of stealing; and breaking out Crystal’s passenger window; and stealing her and her sister’s purse out of the car just because she made the silly little mistake of leaving her red purse on the front seat…in a dark parking lot…near a bar.

Yeah, I’m dumb. But we all make these little mistakes from time to time.

As a result of this mistake and the resulting violence, I’ve been spending my day cancelling credit cards and arranging to get a new window. And now I am without a purse or any way to purchase anything for the next seven to ten days (which is when I’ll get my credit and check cards replaced).

Luckily, I had my driver’s license with me.

Honestly, my sister lost more than I did. Which brings me to my first point about all of this. Don’t fawn over Tonya about it. She’s fine and she might bring it up herself, but she’s the type that hates it when people keep asking her, “Are you okay?”

She’s okay. Okay?

Now it’s time for a side note: When you think about it, how can you truthfully answer the question, “are you okay,” even if it’s a normal day? I mean, are we really okay?

“Are you okay, Crystal?” Well, I got robbed last night, so, no but yeah.

In one sense, yeah I’m fine, cause I’ll keep breathing in and out. And it’s just stuff right?

But in another sense, I like my car. For the first time in my life I have a pretty car and now it’s broken. Plus I can’t really afford to pay for the window right now because it’s Christmas and I’ve spent all the money within reach on my loved ones.

And what if all of this had effected my sense of personal safety? I don’t know if I want to go park my car by my apartment right now. I mean I live in a kind of dodgy neigborhood. And I definitly can’t afford to fix my car if something else happens to it.

Which brings me to my second point (It is now time for the “shameless begging” portion of our program). If any of you were thinking, “hey I’d like to get Crystal something nice for Christmas” — or you were thinking you might be donating a little bit of money to something, but you haven’t decided where to donate the money yet — I have an idea for you. You’re welcome to start a “Crystal can’t afford her broken window” fund.

Hey, got a dollar?

Now for something a bit different.

My Dad is my hero because he totally rigged an awesome “in the meantime” window for me until it can be replaced on Wednesday.

Also, it has all been so surreal. Like I can’t believe this really happened to me in Rapid City.

I’m also kind of having a hard time with the fact that people really do this to each other. My sister had $50 in her purse and between the two of us we had three check books and about 10 credit cards (which are useles because we’ve been taking to automatic card-cancelling computer systems on the telephone all day). Was $50 really worth the effort it took to break that window? That window that is going to cost $250 to fix.

It’s just such an inconvienience (Is that really how you spell that word?). And the whole time I was thinking about it I was annoyed that all of my friends had left to go hang out somewhere else and I wasn’t going to get to go meet up with them.

Plus, no sleep for me last night. I guess I somehow hope that the people who broke the window will read this and realize that it was an aweful thing to do to someone. I know that it all boils down to the fact that whoever did it wasn’t thnking about the fact that they were doing all of this stuff to a person. They were probably just thinking about breaking the car.

But, they, or he or she didn’t just break my car, they cut into my family time and cost me a bunch of money and well I could have been out to eat with my sister (who I never see because she lives across the state) right now, if my car hadn’t been violated. I’ve been violated!

Yeah it sounds like I’m upset, but I’m really just cranky. Oh, and I have a headache. Are you done feeling sorry for me now? Me too.

I knew I should have bought a grey purse that blended in with the color of my car apholstery better. I guess I’ll go do that today. Drat! I hate going to Wal-mart on Saturdays!

Merry Christmas! If you’re in Rapid City for the holiday…or you live here and we like each other…I want to see you this weekend!